On-Screen Keyboard from Windows ME or 2000 in 98SE?

[coolman]

Has any recalled getting the On-Screen Keyboard (OSK.exe) v1.0 from WinME (yes it comes with WinME) or Win2000 working in 98SE? I have a friend that has disabilities. Here is a screenshot of it on WinME:

I have tried to port it myself by taking MSSWCH.DLL and MSSWCHX.exe and OSK.EXE/OSK.CHM/OSK.HLP from a Windows ME installation and putting them in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and using KernelEX (Setting compatibility to WinME/Win2000 mode on OSK.EXE and MSSWCH.DLL and MSSWCHX.EXE), and registering MSSWCH.DLL with regsvr32 msswch.dll but it says a corrupt version may be in memory. I tried it with the KernelEX mode to normal and disabled but it still says a corrupt version may be in memory. I ran OSK.exe with normal mode and disabled mode and WinME/Win2000 Mode and it just says the program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. KERNEL32.DLL seemed to be causing the problem.

Edited January 8, 2013 by coolman

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Has any recalled getting the On-Screen Keyboard (OSK.exe) from WinME or Win2000 working in 98SE? I have a friend that has disabilities.

I somehow missed the fact that WinME had OSK. But there it is in Win_9.cab ( OSK.EXE, OSK.CHM, OSK.HLP ) with a duplicate copy in Win_17 through Win_18. It is definitely not in Win98se though.

I'm not on Win9x at the moment, but surely you can just test it and see if it runs. If it doesn't, it might just need a small edit to satisfy the version check. There are some folks here ( MDGx I think ) who ported lots of WinME to earlier Win9x.

Because I didn't know about that file I went and located a 3rd party alternative to use on Win98se called On-Screenkeyboardportable.exe by John T. Haller ( link ). You learn something new everyday here.

EDIT: oops, that link shows version 2.0 with minimum requirements now as Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8. The one I have is version 1.5.6.0 for Win9x. Sorry. No luck yet finding a link, but it must be out there if you need it.

Edited January 7, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

I had a chance to try that OSK on Win98se ( without KernelEX ). No good.

OSK caused an invalid page fault in module SHELL32.DLL at 017f:7fcbfbea.

I'm afraid that this is probably not a version conflict, it looks like they compiled the EXE or that DLL for something specific in the WinME system. I didn't have time to debug it ( in fact I am not even sure I have a debugger on that Win98se machine any longer ), nor did I scan for deeper dependencies that might be tucked away in there. Perhaps another day.

These are the WinME file dates/times pulled right from the CABs ...

MSSWCHX.EXE........16,384..06-08-00..5:00p.MSSWCHX.EXE

MSSWCH..DLL........32,768..06-08-00..5:00p.MSSWCH.DLL

OSK.....CHM........32,435..06-08-00..5:00p.OSK.CHM

OSK.....EXE.......270,848..06-08-00..5:00p.OSK.EXE

OSK.....HLP........12,410..06-08-00..5:00p.OSK.HLP

You should track down some of the members using that WinME to Win98 port because I am sure they came across this type of error.

[coolman]

I had a chance to try that OSK on Win98se ( without KernelEX ). No good.

OSK caused an invalid page fault in module SHELL32.DLL at 017f:7fcbfbea.

I'm afraid that this is probably not a version conflict, it looks like they compiled the EXE or that DLL for something specific in the WinME system. I didn't have time to debug it ( in fact I am not even sure I have a debugger on that Win98se machine any longer ), nor did I scan for deeper dependencies that might be tucked away in there. Perhaps another day.

These are the WinME file dates/times pulled right from the CABs ...

MSSWCHX.EXE........16,384..06-08-00..5:00p.MSSWCHX.EXE

MSSWCH..DLL........32,768..06-08-00..5:00p.MSSWCH.DLL

OSK.....CHM........32,435..06-08-00..5:00p.OSK.CHM

OSK.....EXE.......270,848..06-08-00..5:00p.OSK.EXE

OSK.....HLP........12,410..06-08-00..5:00p.OSK.HLP

You should track down some of the members using that WinME to Win98 port because I am sure they came across this type of error.

Ah, bummer. I guess I'll let this thread stagnate until someone comes up with a solution.

Edited January 19, 2013 by coolman

[coolman]

I have actually got it working by copying the explorer.exe and shell32.dll files and placing them in their appropriate location and placing MSSWCH.DLL and MSSWCHx.exe and OSK.exe in SYSTEM then running OSK, but I do NOT recommend doing this. It can totally mess up your system. ALWAYS have a backup of your original explorer.exe and shell32.dll files and get ready to copy them back in MS-DOS mode if you decide to try it. You don't need KernelEx for this trick. Here is a picture:

Just to let you know I am not familiar with the 32-bit API so I have no way of modifying Win98's explorer to work with this.

Edited January 20, 2013 by coolman

[jaclaz]

If I may, this:

Has any recalled getting the On-Screen Keyboard (OSK.exe) v1.0 from WinME (yes it comes with WinME) or Win2000 working in 98SE? I have a friend that has disabilities.

is not very "logical" .

I mean, is the question:

I have a friend with disabilities, how can I run the Windows Me OSK.exe on his Windows 98?

Or is it:

I have a friend with disabilities, are there any on-screen-keyboards (similar to the MS OSK.exe on later systems) that I can have running under Windows 98 SE?

If the second, then:

http://cnt.lakefolks.com/

http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1327

might do.

Or am I missing something?

jaclaz

[coolman]

If I may, this:

Has any recalled getting the On-Screen Keyboard (OSK.exe) v1.0 from WinME (yes it comes with WinME) or Win2000 working in 98SE? I have a friend that has disabilities.

is not very "logical" .

I mean, is the question:

I have a friend with disabilities, how can I run the Windows Me OSK.exe on his Windows 98?

Or is it:

I have a friend with disabilities, are there any on-screen-keyboards (similar to the MS OSK.exe on later systems) that I can have running under Windows 98 SE?

If the second, then:

http://cnt.lakefolks.com/

http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1327

might do.

Or am I missing something?

jaclaz

Well I got it working now. It was the first. Sorry for not being clear enough, I was tired when I wrote that comment.

[bphlpt]

Then the question, just out of curiosity, is why did you want to do it the first way instead of the second, which would probably of been a more stable approach?

Cheers and Regards

[coolman]

Then the question, just out of curiosity, is why did you want to do it the first way instead of the second, which would probably of been a more stable approach?

Cheers and Regards

I think the one that MS included with their OS is better than those other portable ones you see out there.

[coolman]

I found a stable way to make this work!

Install 98SE2ME and choose Option 3 (WinME Explorer+Shell+UI)

DOWNLOAD 98SE2ME:

Download

Try this mirror ONLY if the above doesn't work:

Mirror Download

Then go to Start>Run and type appwiz.cpl

Go to the Windows Setup tab, click Accessibility, then click Details. Check both Accessibility Options and Accessibility Tools then click OK and then OK once more. If you are prompted for your Windows 98 SE CD insert it. Continue with that and if it says that a file being copied is older than the one already on your system, click Yes.

Then download this ZIP file:

NEW VERSION RELEASED! AGAIN!

osksetup.zip

If you don't have a program to decompress ZIP files download and install this:

7-Zip 9.20

Unzip the files to a folder of your choice and run INSTALL.BAT. Then click on Start>Programs>Accessories>Accessibility>On-Screen Keyboard. You should have a successful installation of the Windows ME OSK.

Note: If there is a down arrow in the Accessibility folder, click on it. Then it will show the OSK shortcut. The reason why it does that is because WinME/Win2000/WinXP shell sometimes hides unused shortcuts in the Start Menu under a down arrow. After you run the program from that location in the Start Menu once then it will show the shortcut normally and not hidden so you won't have to click the arrow again.

*NO RESTART REQUIRED!*

Edited February 19, 2013 by coolman

[Commodore]

Hi all, this is my first post here.

Just to add that one possible alternative is distribuited from same Microsoft for other purposes: the Ms Visual Keyboard, as accessory of Office 2000.

Clearly, this tool run fine on Windows 98

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4277